SWANSEA CITY’S preparations for their final Europa League Group A game against St Gallen were heavily disrupted as a combination of poor weather and technical problems resulted in a nightmare 12-hour journey to Switzerland.

The Welsh club had been due to fly from Cardiff Airport at 10am yesterday, but fog caused an initial delay to their departure.

A technical fault with their plane then ensured the Swans squad did not take off for Switzerland until 5pm UK time. They eventually landed in Zurich at 8pm local time before going on to St Gallen by coach.

It meant Swansea were unable to train at St Gallen’s AFG Arena ahead of today’s fixture, where the Premier League side will hope to secure their place in the knockout phase of the Europa League.

Swansea will guarantee a spot in the last 32 if they avoid defeat in Switzerland, while a loss could still see them advance if Kuban Krasnodar do not claim three points at group winners Valencia and overturn a goal difference deficit of three.

Swansea and Kuban have identical head-to-head records after playing out two 1-1 draws in the group, with the Russian club scoring stoppage- time equalisers on both occasions.

While the players were delayed, manager Michael Laudrup was able to attend his pre-match press conference at 6pm local time, having travelled from Paris after meeting family in the French capital on Tuesday.

The Dane admitted the disruption was far from ideal, but will not use it as an excuse should they fail to perform tonight.

He said: ‘‘We cannot control everything, especially the weather.

‘‘It is a very long day for the team. It started at 7.45am at the training ground in Swansea, first they had problems with the fog and then when the plane arrived it had mechanical problems.

‘‘They will arrive about 9pm at the hotel, so when I heard that I cancelled training.

‘‘If it’s possible we will do some small things on Thursday just to get them moving.

‘‘Of course, it’s not ideal but let’s not make it more dramatic than it is.

‘‘It’s a very long day for the players and the staff, 12 hours from when they started in Swansea to Zurich.

‘‘It should have been less than half that. The players could have had a rest and then we would have trained and had dinner but they will come, we will have something to eat, and try and get a good night’s sleep.

‘‘It’s the last game in the group stage and we have to finish the job to move on to the next stage where we want to play in a couple of months’ time in the last 32. We have to do the job.’’ Laudrup confirmed striker Wilfried Bony had travelled as he recovers from an ankle injury, while goalkeeper Michel Vorm was also among the squad despite carrying a knee injury which will ultimately require surgery.

Leon Britton is out with a broken toe, but Michu could play a part having made his comeback from an ankle problem against Hull on Monday.